The Western Bulldogs will take their prized selections to the AFL draft

[Topdog]

Not bad, 5, 6, 22, in the first round, plus Stevens and Hunter and we can use pick 51 to either trade for another player or in the draft. Best position we have been in for a long time.

I know what you mean but that still made me chuckle. It's an awful position but a great position at the same time.

[Throughandthrough]

Could well be. His problem is getting the footy, and plus he may push our mate Vez out!

Which regular League players from 2012 will struggle to get a game in 2013, due to the selections?

Hopefully Stevens is a walk up start, at least.

[Mofra]

Which regular League players from 2012 will struggle to get a game in 2013, due to the selections?

Hopefully Stevens is a walk up start, at least.

All bar two players (and two rookies) played in the senior side in 2012 so I'm not sure we had too many settled players anyway.

Lake is gone and Gia can't play through injury anymore so will miss games - and I still don't think Campbell and Minson can play in the same side.

[LostDoggy]

Let's also remember playing in 3 prelims didn't give us high draft picks so we were like hawthorn are now, forced to recruit older players because the picks we had didn't weigh up to players who had been in the system a few years and the premiership window was open.

I often wonder whether we spent more time in research on the guys expecting to go late, knowing we had no really good early picks.

[China Dog]

Some press this morning saying we have done a deal for Tom Young from Collingwood for a late draft pick. Does anyone know much about him? I think he played a few senior games this season.

[azabob]

Some press this morning saying we have done a deal for Tom Young from Collingwood for a late draft pick. Does anyone know much about him? I think he played a few senior games this season.

There is a thread on him, if you haven't found it yet.

[DragzLS1]

Late picks we always do well, its top 10 picks we need to nail which is my concern :s

[ledge]

Late picks we always do well, its top 10 picks we need to nail which is my concern :s

Interesting point, what draft rounds do we actually stuff up
On?
Not sure it's the top 10 we haven't had many lately Griffen and Cooney were great is it more between 10 and 20?
Be a good stat to look up and keep an eye on see if we have a pattern.

[Sedat]

Interesting point, what draft rounds do we actually stuff up
On?
Not sure it's the top 10 we haven't had many lately Griffen and Cooney were great is it more between 10 and 20?
Be a good stat to look up and keep an eye on see if we have a pattern.

Here you go Ledge. Our top 20 picks since 2000 - McMahon, Power, Walsh, Faulkner, Minson, Cooney, Ray, Griffen, Williams, Everitt, Grant, Ward, Cordy (f/s), Howard, Wallis (f/s), Smith. All of these selections except for Walsh, Coons, Ray, Griff, Williams, and Grant have been in that 10-20 range. We haven't nailed anywhere near enough, and it probably cost us a flag in 2008-2010 - those misses from 2000-2002 cost us big time when we were contending 8 years later.

The other factor that has hurt us has been the trading away of picks in the 20-40 region since 2000 for speculative talent, most of whom haven't provided long term value. It goes across multiple footy depts and coaches but some of these trades from the 2000-2003 period certainly didn't help when we were making our move in 2008.

Luckily we have been prolific with our late picks and rookie selections in that time.

[dog town]

Here you go Ledge. Our top 20 picks since 2000 - McMahon, Power, Walsh, Faulkner, Minson, Cooney, Ray, Griffen, Williams, Everitt, Grant, Ward, Cordy (f/s), Howard, Wallis (f/s), Smith. All of these selections except for Walsh, Coons, Ray, Griff, Williams, and Grant have been in that 10-20 range. We haven't nailed anywhere near enough, and it probably cost us a flag in 2008-2010 - those misses from 2000-2002 cost us big time when we were contending 8 years later.

The other factor that has hurt us has been the trading away of picks in the 20-40 region since 2000 for speculative talent, most of whom haven't provided long term value. It goes across multiple footy depts and coaches but some of these trades from the 2000-2003 period certainly didn't help when we were making our move in 2008.

Luckily we have been prolific with our late picks and rookie selections in that time.

That is awful reading. I think recruiters get a bit too crafty early on sometimes. I think playing it safe and making sure you get value out of your top picks is always the best way to go. It makes this draft period an interesting proposition for us. We need some elite, match winning talent but we need to be careful we dont risk one of our first 2 picks on anything speculative.

[ledge]

That is awful reading. I think recruiters get a bit too crafty early on sometimes. I think playing it safe and making sure you get value out of your top picks is always the best way to go. It makes this draft period an interesting proposition for us. We need some elite, match winning talent but we need to be careful we dont risk one of our first 2 picks on anything speculative.

We wont be speculating anymore with the system we have put in place now.